Permission to Sunset

It's Not Too Late Part 3

If you’ve ever wondered, “Is it too late for me to...” the answer’s NO and The Uplifters is about to show you why. This space is for purpose-driven women who want to do big, brave things in the second half of their lives.

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Over the next few weeks, my goal is to prove to you, one stubborn assumption at a time, that it’s not too late to do big, brave things.

Part 1:

You Can't Teach an Old Dog New Tricks and Other BS I've Believed

Part 2:

The ship has not sailed

Part 3: Permission to Sunset

Last week, we stood outside dripping in a brutal heatwave, sweaty enough to look like we’d just hopped out of the shower, because we wanted to watch the sky turn a vibrant orange behind the carousel at our town’s annual Fireman’s Fair.

Everybody loves a sunset.

So, why is it that we hold such a punishing double standard for ourselves when it comes to closing doors we once opened? Maybe because I’m creative and artsy in a world that deems those things less serious, I always quietly believed that if I changed careers or even just let a different part of myself take the lead, I’d be seen as less credible and serious. Like I’d be revealing that the first version of me was never the real deal.

But when I look closely at those who inspire me most, it is never the people who picked a lane at twenty-five and stayed in it out of loyalty to their younger selves. It is the people who are always growing and evolving (even if they have stayed in the same career). I held myself to a standard I didn’t hold anyone I admired to.

There’s a shame that comes up for some of us when we think about changing our minds. We bubble over with feelings that we’ve wasted precious time and see the imaginary jury forming to wag a finger at our flakiness and lay down the verdict that we weren’t brave enough, or smart enough, or strategic enough to make the right choice the first time around.

But let me be the kinder voice on your shoulder for a minute and remind you that your past self, even your one-year-ago self, wasn’t living in this body, this moment, with these needs, this exhaustion, or this hunger. She made the best call she could with what she had. Holding your right-now self hostage to a decision built for someone who no longer exists isn’t loyalty. And trying to wedge your current self into a box built for who you used to be isn’t going to fit any better than that dress you wore in your 20s does.

Your now self deserves sparks and fireworks just like the ones we watched last week. She deserves great big fiery explosions of joy and anger and moments of lighting up the night. And if the things you enthusiastically said yes to decades ago are no longer giving that to you, then let this be your reminder that it is absolutely, 100% not too late to change course and sunset those versions of your life and set out in search of a sunrise.